430 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



THE REDBREAST 

 [F. B. KIBKMAN] 



Of all the birds that inhabit our isles the robin holds first place 

 in public affection, and the reason is not far to seek. His dapper 

 figure and glowing breast, the bright black eyes, alert with intelli- 

 gence, the thin straight legs, inclining outward, and looking like 

 long props, the engaging bobs, and flicks and jerks, the quaint 

 air of contemplative gravity suddenly assumed and as suddenly flung 

 off to give place to some lightning sleight of wing, his winning 

 but still cautious trust in man's goodwill, his ingenuous faith in his 

 own acuteness, his prompt pugnacity, the song with its note of 

 quiet melancholy, the song that more than any other has in it 

 the poetry of autumn and the fall of the leaf, and lastly, the small 

 round sad figure suppliant at the window when chilling blasts and 

 driven snow without make brighter still the crackling logs and 

 Yule-tide cheer within all this, and much more, have set the 

 robin in a place apart, unique, and have made him a welcome guest 

 in every garden. 



It is outside the breeding season that the robin is most in 

 evidence. When in it, he is very much absorbed by his family 

 affairs, and does not then encourage any advances or interference, 

 however well meaning, by human beings. It is not till about August 

 that he shows himself once more prepared to bestow the privilege 

 of his company upon such as merit it by discretion in their 

 behaviour and liberality in their offerings. It is then also that he 

 begins in good earnest to make his arrangements for the winter. 

 It is no easy task he sets himself. The robin, unlike any other 

 British winter species that I know of, is found from about the end 

 of August to the middle of February in solitary possession of a more 

 or less well-defined feeding area from which all others of his 



